An overview of tooling coatings

Translating coating science into practical language

The ranks within the tool and die community have thinned with the shop closures and business consolidations that followed the Great Recession. As a result, the depth of knowledge about tooling coatings has decreased as well in recent years. This primer is intended to provide a quick explanation of the most common tooling coatings for those that need a quick education.

Can metal formers really make an informed decision about tool coatings for forming applications without answering all the questions on a supplier information form? (More on those questions later.)

In most instances, they can’t. They can’t know everything about all things involved in stamping because they have too many responsibilities and too few hours in the day. If they do have that knowledge, they might have retired or be looking to do so soon.

That’s why it’s good to learn a few things about tool coatings. This isn’t an in-depth study of all options available for tool protection, but it does provide a good starting point to begin the conversation.

The Most Common Coating Technique

Electroplating is one of the most common and cost-effective coating techniques for tooling. The process involves immersing a metal object with a negative charge attached to it into a solution that contains a metal salt. The metal salt contains positively charged metal ions that are attracted to the negatively charged object. As the positively charged metal ions reach the object, they encounter
electrons that have been pumped from the power source. This reaction between the electrons and positively charged ions creates the metallic coating.

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This approach, however, does not provide the hardness that more advanced techniques do, but it does an adequate job of protecting tooling used for basic forming operations. For instance, most large body panel dies and plastic molds are electroplated.

Stepping up to Nitriding

Nitriding, the process of binding nitrogen to a metal workpiece’s outer surface to harden it, is a step up the protection scale from electroplating, but again does not offer the advanced protection of more advanced coating techniques.

This type of coating typically is applied via three different diffusion processes:

In ammonia nitriding, the metal workpiece is heated and subjected to ammonia, which then breaks down into hydrogen and nitrogen. The nitrogen eventually reacts with the metal surface to create a protective coating.

In salt bath nitriding, the metal workpiece is heated in a nitrogen-containing salt, typically cyanide salt. As temperatures rise, nitrogen and some carbon from the salt diffuse into the metal surface to create a hardened layer. Because the salts are considered highly toxic, this approach is not widely available because of strict disposal laws in many communities.

In plasma nitriding, nitrogen gas is exposed to electricity, which generates ionized molecules that gather around the workpiece surface. This highly active gas is called plasma. The nitrogen then bonds with the metal surface. This nitriding process has grown popular with metal manufacturers because it can be done at temperatures as low as 800 degrees F.

Nitriding often is of interest to stampers that need some kind of protection for tools used in low-volume applications.

Looking for More Protection With Thermal Diffusion

Thermal diffusion (TD) coating is another diffusion process, but this occurs at much higher temperatures—around

1,800 degrees F. Asian automakers used this type of coating widely both domestically and abroad in the 1990s because of its reliable protection.

During TD coating, tooling is placed in a salt pot and heated rapidly. The salt contains the element vanadium, and as the temperature approaches 1,800 degrees F, the vanadium reacts with the carbon at the tooling surface to create vanadium carbide, a very hard and tough layer of protection.

Of course, with this approach involving very high temperatures, the crystal structure of the tooling material changes. If engineers do not have experience working with subsequent dimensional changes in the tooling that come after TD coating application, they become frustrated very quickly. Unfortunately, a lot of engineers with TD coating experience have left the industry over the years,
creating a vacuum for this expertise.

Additionally, the TD coating process sometimes can lead to die cracking in vulnerable areas—for example, sharp threads in a tapped hole. Residual stress from the thermal shock to the tool during the TD coating application reveals itself after regular use of the tool in its forming application.

Another trend working against further adoption of TD coating in the automotive industry has been the emergence of high-strength steels. TD does a good job of protecting tools in most forming applications, but when it comes to forming these advanced steels, stampers notice galling issues much more quickly than when using tools with more advanced coatings.

Moving on to Deposition Coatings

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a process that delivers a coating similar to TD, but in a much different way. In CVD, the reactive element is not found in salt, but rather in a gas. As the interior of a controlled environment reaches 1,800 degrees F, the gases start to break down into the individual constituent parts. A chemical reaction takes place on the surface of the steel that has been
placed in the chamber, and a subsequent coating is formed on the tooling.

CVD coatings, like titanium carbide, are very tough. Some stampers shy away from them, however, because, like TD coatings, the application process’s high temperatures lead to dimensional changes in the tooling. Many metal formers opt for an alternative advanced coating even though CVD coatings may prove to be the best long-term answer for tooling protection in high-volume or aggressive
applications.

That often leads engineers to physical vapor deposition (PVD) coatings. Compared to other coating application processes, PVD is applied at much lower temperatures—generally less than 1,000 degrees F, but for the most part between 480 degrees F and 840 degrees F.

This coating application takes place in a vacuum, but no chemical reaction occurs. Energy, which might be a welder’s arc or some sort of electron beam bombardment, is directed at a solid material, which results in the creation of a metal vapor. The metal vapor is charged positively, while the tooling in the chamber is charged negatively. The vapor is attracted to the tool steel, but when it
hits the tooling surface, it reacts with a gas such as nitrogen or acetylene that is present in the vacuum. That causes a coating to form on the tooling surface. Even though this process may seem like a chemical reaction, it is much more akin to the collection of condensation on a surface.

Certainly PVD is much more viable for engineers and tool- and diemakers worried about dimensional change in tooling. For example, most tooling materials being used today generally are heat-treated in a way that they can be PVD-coated without exceeding the tempering temperature. In this way, the tooling doesn’t change size and isn’t softened during the coating application process. Also, the PVD
process can achieve a good coating on a very sharp cutting edge of a tool, such as one used for blanking or trimming; high-temperature processes struggle to accomplish that.

Duplex systems—coating proc-esses that combine two approaches, such as nitriding and PVD, have emerged in recent years. They provide the necessary level of protection—even if it is for a shorter duration when compared to TD or CVD coatings—and don’t result in dimensional changes of the tooling.

Questions to Ponder

Of course, no one coating process is going to work for everyone. Each stamper must balance desired performance with protection levels and tool- and diemaking realities. That’s why they should ask the following questions when trying to choose a tool coating:

What is the function of the tool? Certain coatings work better on cutting tools than on forming tools, such as those used for extruding or drawing.

What is the tool material? Some materials can’t stand up to the CVD or TD process. At that point, the stamper is left with electroplating, nitriding, or PVD.

Can the tool- and diemakers cope with dimensional changes in the tooling following the coating application process? Some companies don’t have the experience to work with changes. Others don’t have the time because of very tight production schedules.

What material is being formed?

What are the application details? What is the thickness of the material being formed? What type of press is being used to form the part?

How effective is the lubrication process? If the stamper is ineffectively lubricating the part, it needs to specify a tooling coating with very low friction—which certainly isn’t every coating.

What is the production volume? Obviously, a stamper isn’t going to want to spend a lot of money on a highly durable coating for a tool that isn’t going to be used very often.

Tooling coatings can provide a much needed boost in today’s stamping environments, particularly as more challenging materials continue to hit the production floor. That’s why more companies are engaging coating suppliers before tools are even made and, in some cases, even designed.

Published In...

STAMPING Journal®

STAMPING Journal® is the only industrial publication dedicated solely to serving the needs of the metal stamping market. In 1987 the American Metal Stamping Association broadened its horizons and renamed itself and its publication, known then as Metal Stamping. Print subscriptions are free to qualified stamping professionals in North America.